These data suggest that although long-term aerosolized N-acetylcysteine administration did not influence pulmonary function or quality of life, it may delay disease progression as evidenced by exercise desaturation, high-resolution CT, and serum KL-6.

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The tubercular abscess of the chest wall remains one of the differential diagnoses of a chest wall tumour, and the management strategy is controversial. We reviewed the medical records of 22 patients treated at our institution. Two patients were managed by antitubercular medications alone; eight patients were managed by medication and open drainage. Five patients underwent open drainage with subsequent radical surgery at a constant interval of time, and the mean duration between open drainage and radical surgery was 9.8 weeks (range, 3-12). Seven patients underwent radical surgery without prior open drainage. Five patients required rib resections, and curettage of infected pleural peel was necessary in 5 patients. Antitubercular drugs were administered basically for more than 6 months regardless of surgical management, including for more than 1 month prior to radical surgery. Postoperative empyema was seen in 1 patient after radical surgery. The mean follow-up duration was 32.8 months (range, 3-100), and there was no recurrence. Complete resection of the tubercular abscess with sufficient antitubercular therapy resulted in a satisfactory outcome. Antitubercular therapy with or without open drainage can be a viable choice.

The authors established a new hemopoietic cell line (JK-1) from a patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia in erythroid crisis. This JK-1 line predominantly consists of immature cells, but a small number of mature erythroblasts and red cells can be consistently seen without any specific differentiation inducer. The JK-1 cells grow in suspension culture supplemented with human plasma and carry double Philadelphia chromosomes. Hemoglobin staining with benzidine was positive for about 20% of cells and the type of the hemoglobin was for the most part HbF. Surface-marker analysis revealed JK-1 cells positive for glycophorin A, EP-1, and HAE9. The proportion of mature cells was elevated by the addition of 6-aminolevulinic acid. Erythropoietin (EPO) enhanced the growth of JK-1 cells either in the suspension or in methylcellulose semisolid culture. The total number of EPO receptors was 940 per cell, of which 220 sites had an affinity higher than the other 720 sites. This is the first report of an established human erythroid cell line which spontaneously undergoes terminal differentiation. Cancer 66:1544-1551,1990. HE NUMBER of human erythroid cell lines establishedT currently is relatively small despite recent advances in tissue-culture technique. It is possible to establish erythroid cell lines from two hematologic malignancies: chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and erythroleukemia. A few cell lines with erythroid characteristics have been established from CML patients in blastic crisis. The K562 cell line, the best known among them, was established by Lozzio et al.' in 1970, and it was later found to manifest erythroid properties.2 Two Philadelphia chromosome-positive cell lines, BV-1 733 and YN-1 ,4 also show erythroid characteristics. Reflecting the limited number of cases of erythroid crisis among CML patients, however, the number of erythroid cell lines established from CML patients is still small. Among the erythroid cell lines established from erythroleukemia, the HEL cell line established by Martin et al.' in 1982 is well known, and the cells were shown to be capable of either spontaneous or From the